Pueblo Science
Author

Ball or mason jar (a glass jar with lid and a screw band to hold the lid in place like in the picture on the right)

Wire screen

Playing card

1 cup of water

Adult supervision

The trick:

With an adult’s help, cut the wire screen or door mesh to the size of the lid.

Place the mesh over the bottle mouth. Secure it with the screw band.

Without letting your audience see the mesh, fill the jar through the mesh, making them think the jar is wide open.

Place the playing card and cover the screen completely. Now turn the jar upside down with the playing card pressed tightly against the screen.

Once upside down, slowly remove your hand to show the card sticks to the jar! The card is preventing the water from falling!!!

Now slowly remove the playing card. Magically, the water does not come pouring out through the screen!!!!

While still holding the bottle upside down, tip the jar to one side, and pour the water out.

Wow!!

How Does It Work?

When you submerge a screen into water and then pull it out, you will see that water fills the holes of the screen. The force holding the water to the screen is called adhesion. The film of water is held tight due to a force called cohesion. Cohesion is the attraction between molecules of the same type, while adhesion is the attraction between molecules of different types. The cohesion force creates surface tension, which is why water drops are round. The surface tension in our mesh is so strong, that it prevents air from going into the jar to replace the water as they pour out. As a result, water stays in the upside-down jar even after the card has been removed. When you tip the bottle, it breaks the surface tension and the water comes out.

This little climber climbs almost effortlessly balancing gravity and friction, using only straws as support.

You’ll need:

Poster board (at least 14 cm x 14 cm)

String (1.5 m or more, depending on the height of the climb)

Drinking straw

1 or 2 coins

Scissors

Tape

Pens/Coloring crayons

2 Paper clips

Procedure:

Prepare the string by hanging it over a doorknob, a hook, or some other source of support that will allow the string to hang from a slightly elevated position.

Draw your design of the climber on the cardboard and cut it out.

Cut out the figure from cardboard.

Decorate the figure as you wish. Be creative! Have fun!

Cut 2 pieces, 2 cm long, from the straw.

Tape the straws on the climber. When the climber is standing, the straws should be at an angle of 45 degrees from the floor, pointing the middle top of the climber and up to 10 cm apart (see picture at the top of the screen). Press hard to reinforce the straw.

Tape a coin onto your climber. This adds some weight so the climber returns down when you let go.

Thread the string through the straws.

Tie one paper clip to each end of the string so that the climber doesn’t fall off when coming back down.

Pull on the strings gently with both hands. Now pull one string down while gently releasing the other string. Switch sides. The climber will start to climb, first tilting one way then the other. Repeat pulling on each side of the string. Your climber should be climbing up the string!

To bring your climber down, hold the two ends of the string without pulling. The climber should slide back down. Add another coin, if the climber doesn’t slide easily.

The science behind the scene:

This experiment showcases the balance between gravity and friction.

As one of the strings is pulled, the climber tilts and more friction is provided between the straw and string on one side, while allowing the string to slide through the straw on the other side to a more elevated position. By altering tugging on each side, the straw on the string is held fixed on one side while rising higher on the other. By repeating this step on both sides, the position of the climber rises on the string causing it to climb.

If the climber is light enough, the friction provided by the straw on the string prevents it from sliding back down, however if more weight is added to the climber, the effect of gravity is stronger. If the climber becomes too heavy, the friction between the straw and string is not enough to overcome the effects of gravity, and the climber slides back down.

Keep on experimenting:

Does the angle of the straw make a difference to how fast the climber can climb, or whether the climber can climb at all?

Does the weight of the climber affect how it climbs? (how fast, how easily, etc)

What else can you think of that would affect how fast the climber climbs or slides (ie the material of the string or straw, etc).

The good-ol’ vinegar-baking soda Volcano is out of control.Kids: DON’T do this at home!!!Take it outside!!!

You’ll need:

For the Dough Mountain:

6 cups flour

2 cups salt

4 tbs cooking oil

2 cups water

Empty 2 L pop bottle

Cardboard (30x30cm2)

For the Lava:

1 tbs liquid detergent

Red and yellow food colouring

1 cup vinegar

3 tbs baking soda

Funnel

Warm tap water (about 0.5 L)

Mould the mountain:

Mix the dough ingredients together with your hands until the dough is smooth and firm.
You may need to add a little more water if the mixture is too dry or add flour if it’s too sticky.

Place the empty pop bottle on the cardboard.

Mould the dough around the bottle as a mountain, leaving the bottle open. Make sure you don’t drop dough into the bottle.

Prepare the lava:

Dissolve the baking soda in the 0.5 L warm water. Mix well!!

Fill the bottle with baking soda solution.

Add detergent and food colouring to the bottle.

Now it’s time for the eruption:

Take your mountain outdoors

Using the funnel, Quickly! pour the vinegar into the bottle and STAY CLEAR!!!

How did that work?

When acid (vinegar) and base (baking soda) are mixed, a chemical reaction takes place. When dissolved in water, baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, breaks down to sodium and bicarbonate ions. Upon addition of the vinegar (acetic acid), the hydrogen ions from the vinegar react with the bicarbonate ions from the baking soda, forming carbonic acid. This acid is not stable for very long, and breaks down to carbon dioxide and water. As the carbon dioxide gas accumulates in the bottle, the pressure builds up until it erupts forcing the content of the bottle out of the volcano.

Did you know… ?

The biggest known volcano in our solar system is on Mars. Its name is Olympus Mons and it measures a 600km (373 miles) wide and 21km (13 miles) high.

The most volcanic active place in our solar system is Io, one of Jupiter’s moons. Covered in volcanoes, its surface is constantly changing due to the large amount of volcanic activity.

Volcanic eruptions can send ash high into the air, over 30km (17 miles) above the Earth’s surface (in 2010 Mt. Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland erupted for 6 months, sending ash 9 km up in the air forcing the closure of many air routes above Europe).

Large volcanic eruptions can reflect radiation from the sun and drop average temperatures on earth by around half a degree. There have been several examples of this over the last century.

Super easy and super fun experiment.
The test tube can be substituted with a small transparent glass.

You’ll need:

Iron nail

Sandpaper

Vinegar

Test tube or a small transparent cup

The experiment:

Sand the nail with the sand paper.

Pour some vinegar into the test tube (or the cup).

Soak the nail in the vinegar and watch it carefully

What’s going on here?

The tiny bubble you just saw on the nail are hydrogen bubbles. They are formed by a chemical reaction called redox reaction, which is part of the field of electrochemistry. Redox is short for REDuction-OXidation. In our experiment, the acid (vinegar) oxidizes the iron in the nail while being reduced by the iron to hydrogen gas.

Where is the fuel?

The hydrogen is the fuel! Hydrogen is commonly used in fuel cells, a device in which a redox reaction between oxygen and hydrogen produces energy and water. The reaction does not produce greenhouse gasses making hydrogen fuel cells a green technology. Also, fuel cell engines are more efficient than traditional gasoline engines making the technology extremely attractive to transportation industries. Fuel cell engines are under development in cars and airplanes and already being implemented in busses, bikes and boats.

Keep on experimenting:

Soak a magnesium ribbon in the vinegar. Could you produce more hydrogen?
Try other kinds of metals. Can you still produce hydrogen? Share your results with us!

LED lights, at least 2 (can be found in hardware stores)
4 AA batteries (1.5V each)
Battery holder for 4 batteries with wires (can be found in hardware stores)
Optional: motor and buzzer

Make the playdoughs:

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.
Knead and add flour or water if needed.
Note: the insulating dough is gooey and much less pleasant than the conducting dough.

Test different kind of circuits:

Insert the batteries into the battery holder

Circuit A

Make 2 small balls from the conductive playdough.
Connect each ball to one wire of the battery holder.
Stick the LED in the playdough, one leg in each ball. Make sure the balls do not touch each other.
Did the LED lit? If not, try to reverse its legs in the playdough.
Now make a contact between the balls. What happened to the light?

Circuit B

Exchange the conductive playdough with the insulating one.
Did the LED lit? What about if you reverse its legs in the playdough?

Circuit C

Make 2 small balls of conductive playdough and 1 from the insulating dough.
Set the insulating ball in the middle between the conductive ones.
Connect one wire to each ball and stick the LED legs in the conductive balls.
Did the LED lit? If not, try to reverse its legs in the playdough.

Circuit D – Get Creative

Try to sep up your circuits with different shapes and configurations of both playdoughs.
Change the LED with other electrical component you have.

What’s going on here?

How an electrical circuit works?

Electricity is the flow of electrons in a loop made of conductive materials, materials that allow that flow. In order for a circuit to work we need a power source (the batteries in our case). In an electric circuit, the electrons always flow form the negative terminal of the power source to the positive terminal, and from the positive terminal to the negative one when flowing inside the power source. Since we can’t see the electrons , in order to know the circuit works, we need an electrical component that will tell us electricity flows, like LED, buzzer, computer, washing machine and so many more!

How come the playdough can be conductive or insulating?

Look again at the ingredients list. See the differences? In the conductive dough we used salt and cream of tartar. In the insulating one we replaced the salt with sugar, the tap water with distilled water and didn’t add cream of tartar at all.
Why? Because the conductive properties of all these ingredients!
Table salt is a chemical that is made of ions, sodium ions and chloride ions. That means it contains electrical charges which allows the flow of electrons. Same goes with the cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is another type of salt, although it doesn’t contain sodium or chloride, but other kind of ions. Cream of tartar, by the way, is the magic ingredient that turns a regular dough into a playdough, and that’s the reason the insulating playdough is not as fun to play with.
In the insulating playdough, we exchanged the salt with sugar. Sugar, doesn’t contain ions, thus it doesn’t conduct electricity. Same with distilled water. Distilled water is water from which the salts were removed, and since it contains no salt, it doesn’t conduct electricity. Did you know, the very low levels of different salts in our tap water are what makes tap water tastier than the taste-less distilled water.

So now that we understand what’s going on in the playdough lets talk about the circuits we built:

Why doesn’t the LED always work?
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. As opposed to a wire or incandescent light, a diode is en electrical component that conduct electricity only in one direction. Therefore, the direction of the LED in the circuit is crucial for lighting it.

Why the light went off when the 2 conductive balls were brought into contact?

Well, what we did here is called short circuit. It means we gave the electrons a shortcut, an easier way to go through the circuit. And since nature always prefers the easiest route, most of the electrons take that shortcut and the LED doesn’t get enough electrons or electricity to lit.

Connect one wire to the first ball and the other to the last ball in the row.

Stick an LED in the first and middle balls, bridging them. Stick a second LED in the middle and last balls, bridging them. Reverse their directions, if needed.

Now pull out one of the LEDs. What happened to the other LED?

Mix them together: Set a circuit that contains both in parallel and series components

Using the series circuit set before, add another LED, bridging 2 balls.

if needed, reverse the directions of the LED.

What’s going on here?

Electrical circuits can be assembled in 2 basic configurations: in parallel and in series.

As you’ve seen, in a parallel circuit the components (LEDs in our case) share a common junction point. They all see the same voltage (which is a measure for energy) form the power source (the batteries in our case), no matter if we use the same component or not. However, the current (number of electrons flowing through them) depends on the components’ resistance, on how much the components oppose the flow of electron. The resistance depends on the nature on the component.

You can think of it as a multi-lane road. If one lane has pot holes, cars will drive slower in this lane, but that will not affect the speed of traffic in other lanes.

A series circuit works exactly the opposite way. The component are connected one after another in a row like train cars. The current is the same through all the components, but the voltage depends on their resistance.

In the road analogy it would look like a single lane road. When traffic moves from a well maintained section to a bumpy section, it will slow down everyone.

So the circuit looks different, but what’s all the fuss about? Remember when you pulled out one of the LEDs in the series circuit and all the lights went off? That’s because it’s a series circuit! As simple as that. When one component pulled out, the circuit is open and the electrons cannot flow.

But when you pulled out one LED from the parallel circuit it looks like it doesn’t matter, all the other components were still on. It’s true, opening the circuit in that one point doesn’t open the whole circuit and the other LEDs stay on. However, it does matter, the load on the circuit is lower now and the components left in the circuit can work with higher power.

Where do we find these circuits in our daily life?

Practically everywhere!

Some Christmas lights lines are set in series configuration. In this case, just one broken light in the line will turn off the whole line.

As an example of parallel circuit, you can think about your home. The rooms are connected in parallel to each other. Thus, turning on or off the light in one room doesn’t affect the lights in other rooms.

Did you know? Parallel and series configurations are not limited to electricity.

Our body works in parallel and series in many ways. For example, the hair connected to the head in parallel. The fall of one hair strand doesn’t affect the rest of the hair.

Parts of the blood system work in series. The same blood that goes to your toes tips travel through the torso, a leg and a foot before reaching a toe.

Now tell us:

What other applications of parallel and series configuration can you think of?

UPDATE: This project was delivered on July 17-19, 2017 in MICO College, Kingston, Jamaica! We thank all our donors , the Jamaica Ministry of Education, Solar Market Ja and the Association of Science Teachers of Jamaica for sponsoring the training! We are working hard to deliver another training in 2018, please help us make that happen by DONATING today!

Rural Initiative for Science Education (RISE) in Kingston, Jamaica

$20 of $10,639 raised

$Donation Amount:

Select Payment Method

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Personal Info

First Name *

Last Name

Email Address *

Donation Total:
$20

My Project

I will be coordinating Pueblo Science’s Rural Initiative for Science Education (RISE) in Jamaica. This will enrich science education in low-resource communities by showing local teachers how to incorporate new experiments to better stimulate young minds and demonstrate how practical science can be for everyday life.
Teachers attending the training will be primarily from outside of Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, with collaboration with the Jamaican Ministry of Education and the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Fundraising Target

$15,000 to train 100 teachers from rural regions across Jamaica on how to use inexpensive locally available materials to create science kits which coincide with material in the local curriculum and can teach students to critically think about the environments around them. Teachers will learn to implement eight multifaceted experiments that touch upon different areas of science, which is a more sustainable model of science outreach, as these teachers and students can spread this knowledge amongst their colleagues.

.

Date and Location of Training

July/August 2018
Kingston, Jamaica

Obstacles to overcome in science education: restructuring required

While not a universal trend, the majority of high school students in Jamaica show a general decline in performance in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) science subjects (biology, chemistry, physics). This has been attributed to the CSEC examination shifting from more recall-based questions to application of knowledge and critical-thinking, and a stagnant curriculum that drastically needs to be modernized.

Often, we find wealth and educational opportunities concentrated in the capital, so Pueblo Science looks to the rural communities in order to maximize benefit for the whole country. Many rural teachers are overburdened to carry out their duties effectively, especially when considering lack of resources. Teachers themselves may not have enough exposure to world-class educational systems to best facilitate learning activities that help students understand concepts that interconnect scientific education to communities, environment, and health. In many cases, teachers may not be specialists in any field of science, though they are expected to teach physics, chemistry, and biology to students from 1st to 6th form, and more recently expected to teach as many as three sets of students in a single classroom. Coupled with insufficient governmental support, is it any surprise that they rely on learning from textbooks, focusing on recall, rather than experiential learning?

From news articles to professional and public opinions, we know Jamaicans teachers try their best despite these obstacles to encourage students to take an invested interest in science and its applications. Pueblo Science supplements the endeavour of these teachers to help develop a new generation of problem-solvers and innovators, which Jamaica needs. The teachers will travel to Kingston from remote communities across the different parishes of Jamaica, using their own money and giving up vacation time to attend our training because they believe it will help them inspire their students.

Who Am I?

My name is Johnathan Lincoln Lau and I am Pueblo Science’s coordinator for the Rural Initiative for Science Education (RISE) program in Jamaica. Originally hailing from Kingston, Jamaica, I graduated from Campion College in 2011, where the seeds of scientific passion were planted. In Toronto, I was blessed with research opportunities in molecular physiology and epigenetic drug discovery. Currently, my research interests lie in scientific communication to enhance evidence-based healthcare. Gaining numerous research experiences since migrating to Canada, coupled with my fierce love for my birthplace, I want to contribute to a better Jamaica by providing the same educational opportunities offered to me to all youth. Our nation needs an educational environment where all children can take equal share in being the new generation of innovators – scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, and problem-solvers – coinciding with Pueblo Science’s vision!

Many of our young bright minds go abroad in search of better opportunities that the Jamaican economy just cannot afford on a large scale, such as myself; though, I believe we Jamaican diaspora ought to give back and invest for future generations to come. For our size, Jamaicans have continuously been players in the global stage, especially in athletics and the arts – wi likkle but wi tallawah (we’re little, but are we tall or what?). However, there is no doubt that together, we can create a better Jamaica by investing our youth – we honestly deserve it.

I am a MD candidate studying at the University of Ottawa and finished my HBSc at the University of Toronto (UofT) in Immunology and Physiology.

Where Your Donation Goes

Cost ($)

Quantity

Total ($)

Subsidies to help 6 Canadian volunteer scientists reach teachers in Jamaica

International travel

300

6

1,800

Local transportation & meals

200

6

1,200

Accommodation (4 days)

200

6

1,200

Materials

Materials for experiments during workshop (100 teachers)

750

10

7,500

Materials for experiment development

100

10

1,000

Instructional manuals

5

100

500

T-shirts for volunteers

5

40

200

Program Development Cost

1600

1

1,600

Total Project Cost

$ 15,000

My Impact

The 100 teachers that will be trained in Kingston, Jamaica will engage thousands of students per annum. Pueblo Science brought this program in 2017, which was enthusiastically received by over 110 teachers from all over Jamaica. Based on this and previous programs implemented in the Philippines, we expect the following outcomes:

Students learn that science can be experiential, fun, and applicable to everyday life.

Students share and teach their experiments to their friends and classmates

Students will use what they learned in their science class into a project helping the community

Teachers will start holding their own camps outside of their classrooms

Update: In 2017 we reached 10,000 students in Ontario through this program. We thank the UofT Varsity Blues, Mattamy Athletic Centre and Wilfrid Laurier varsity for partnering with us.

Science on Ice

$100 of $6,875 raised

$Donation Amount:

Select Payment Method

PayPal

Personal Info

First Name *

Last Name

Email Address *

Donation Total:
$20

My Project

I would like to organize three Science on Ice events in 2018. To organize these events we will work with athletics associations at universities to provide science-based activities and interactive demonstrations at varsity hockey games – both at intermission and throughout the game. These match-ups are themed as “Hockey School Days” and have been attended by thousands of students from local school boards since 2012 (including the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Waterloo District School Board).

Students are engaged in a fun and stimulating exploration of scientific concepts. Shows on ice include visually stunning chemical reactions and impressive liquid nitrogen explosions. The hands-on activities around the ice rink will be themed, such as the science of sports, robotics and fun chemistry! The events, which are currently run in collaboration with the athletic associations at the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University and Ryerson University, attract an estimated 10,000 students every year. They have provided young students with the opportunity to learn from a small set of interactive demos and watch two spectacular experiments performed on centre ice during the intermission.

Fundraising Target

A fund raising goal of $6,875 is needed for us to provide 3 Science on Ice events in Ontario.

Date and Location of Training

The Science on Ice events will be held in three locations this year: University of Toronto Varsity, Waterloo Recreation center and the Mattamy Athletic Center. The exact dates will be posted on the first week of August.

Changing the attitudes of students towards science

Our goal is to encourage young Canadian students to appreciate how fun and relevant science can be. Through our initiative many children in Canadian schools will now be able to experience the joy of learning science in a very festive environment.

We would like to encourage the students to be curious. Through the demonstrations, we give them a taste of how they can safely do their own experiments at home and at school, and perhaps join science clubs and camps where they can further pursue their newly found interest in science. By engaging them at an early age, we foster the development of their critical thinking, enabling them to make analytical observations and decisions.

Who Am I?

My name is Calvin Cheng and I am Pueblo Science’s director of product development. I am always looking for opportunities to share my enthusiasm for hands-on science, mentoring students and building toys and gadgets. Getting involved with the Science on Ice program allowed me to pursue these interests and also provided an exciting opportunity to creatively design visually stunning experiments that can be performed on ice during the intermission and be used to educate and engage the students.

I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of Toronto. I also earned a Master’s of Science in Chemistry and a Bachelor’s of Applied Science in Biomedical Engineering.

Where Your Donation Goes

Cost ($)

Quantity

Total ($)

Materials for experiments on ice

200

3

600

Materials for development of on ice experiments

500

3

1,500

Materials for hands-on activities off the ice

1,000

3

3,000

Printing of instructional manuals

0.03

10,000

300

Volunteer shirts

4

100

400

Car rental and gas

150

3

450

Program development cost

625

1

625

Total Project Cost

$6,875

My Impact

The three science on ice events will directly impact 10,000 students per year. Based on previous events held by Pueblo Science, I expect the following impact

Students learn that science is fun and relevant

Students are encouraged to do their own experiments at home with their parents

Students start sharing their experiments to their friends and classmates

Update: We reached over 800 students in Ontario through this program from September 2016 to August 2017. We would like to do the same in 2018 and you can help us make that happen by DONATING today! We thank all our donors and fundraiser attendees!

Science in the Community

$4,000 of $4,000 raised

$Donation Amount:

Select Payment Method

PayPal

Personal Info

First Name *

Last Name

Email Address *

Donation Total:
$20

My Project

I would like to organize three Science in the Community events from September 2017 to August 2018. Both events will be titled Chemistry Celebrations at the Library and they will run from 10 am to 4 pm. Scientists from Pueblo Science will volunteer and train youth on how to conduct the five science demos and five hands-on activities for the general public. Lab safety, safe handling on the household chemicals and teaching techniques will be included in the training. In the afternoon, the YAG group together with the scientists will deliver the demos and activities to 50 children and their families. Older and younger students will be engaged in an interactive and stimulating exploration of chemistry concepts. This event will be organized in collaboration with the University of Toronto and Toronto libraries.

Fundraising Target

A fund raising goal of $4,000 is needed for us to provide at least 4 Science in the Community events in Ontario.

Date and Location of Training

The Science in the Community events will be held in September 2017 to August 2018 around Ontario, (Yonge and Dundas square, libraries, community centres, schools and universities)

Creating scientists with leadership skills

Our Science in the Community event aims not only to encourage young students to appreciate science but also to help them develop leadership skills. We show older students how exciting science is and then train them how to deliver these activities to the public. These students can apply these skills to further work with scientists in researching and creating science kits, which will then be used to engage the public with science.

Who Am I?

My name is Shermaine Li and I am Pueblo Science’s coordinator for the Science in the Community program. I am passionate about bringing my research into society and teaching science to children in a creative and accessible way. I have volunteered for many of Pueblo Science’s programs in the GTA including the Science for Syrians, Hart House Family Sundays and Science on Ice. The impact from those experiences was simply amazing! I am very excited to coordinate these events and be able to help shape up our future researchers!

I received my Hon. B.Sc. in Chemistry and Physiology from University of Toronto and currently pursuing my M. Sc. in Chemistry.

Where Your Donation Goes

Cost ($)

Quantity

Total ($)

Materials for demos

100

10

1,000

Materials for 10 hands-on activities

100

10

1,000

Experiment development

100

10

1,000

Printing of manuals

0.05

400

200

Volunteer shirts

5

60

300

Program development cost

500

1

500

Total Project Cost

$4,000

My Impact

The two Science in the Community events will engage over 1,000 students and their parents in science. We expect the following outcomes for the public event:

Students learn that science is fun and relevant to everyday life.

Students are encouraged to do their own experiments at home with their parents.

Students share and teach their experiments to their friends and classmates

We are looking for volunteers who will develop manuals for the newly created science kits. The kits and manuals will be used in 2018 Pueblo Science RISE (Rural Initiative for Science Education) programs. The manuals will be self-explanatory and will contain pedagogical techniques and tips for troubleshooting the experiments. RISE, offers professional development training for science teachers in rural schools. Participating teachers are shown how they can include new experiments in their own classrooms and how the activities are relevant to their curriculum.

Qualifications: BSc or BASc graduate

Number of Volunteers Needed – 8

Position Details:

When: October 2017 – March 2018

Where: 60 St. George Street, Suite 331

Time: flexible hours, must attend monthly meeting with the product development team